Does Jim Dolan Want Donnie Walsh for New York Knicks?

"Donnie has the experience, the temperament and personality to deal with the New York Knicks’ situation," said Kauffman, whom Walsh hired last summer to represent him. "He has roots there."

Neither Kauffman nor the Knicks were willing to say if the two sides have had any contact. Kauffman would only confirm that his client would gladly accept a meeting with Garden management.

Whether those meetings already have taken place is a curious question. The Daily News obtained flight records via a Knicks official showing that the private jet belonging to Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan made two trips to Indianapolis over a 24-hour period last week. Those documents don’t prove that Dolan was on the plane or that the purpose of the trip to the Midwest was for a clandestine meeting with Walsh.

But when the plane landed in Indiana on Tuesday night, Walsh was conspicuously absent from the Pacers’ game against Seattle. The team said Walsh was home with the flu. He also was out of his office the following day, when Dolan’s plane traveled in the morning from Indianapolis to South Florida, where Dolan owns a home. The plane returned to Indiana later that same afternoon before flying again to Florida. [New York Daily News]